Dopamine is easier to obtain now than at any other point in human history. Every day people all across the globe spend hours upon hours scrolling through their social media algorithms in search of their next little hit of dopamine. We are all guilty of it, and there is no shame in admitting that, for most of us, it has become an addiction. Given dopamine’s role in the brain’s reward and motivation systems, you would expect an album titled Dopamine Chamber to explore themes of joy, contentment and pleasure. Instead, Fontaines D.C. use their fifth studio album to expose something far more sinister – a space in which pleasure is manufactured, consumed and ultimately weaponised to rewire our brains.
It is no longer controversial to argue that Fontaines D.C. are among the biggest (and best) rock bands in the world. I am almost ashamed to admit that I did not give the band a proper listen until the back end of 2024, shortly after their fourth studio album Romance was released. By that point, the hype surrounding Fontaines D.C. had reached such heights that it would have been ludicrous of me to not check them out. The phrase is grossly overused, but I was ‘instantly hooked’. Romance ended up being my most-played album of 2025, with eight of my ten most-played songs that year also coming from the record.
Throughout 2025, I also made a point of working my way through the band’s three studio albums that preceded Romance – Dogrel (2019), A Hero’s Death (2020) and Skinty Fia (2022). Whilst Dogrel and A Hero’s Death are both brilliant records, it was Skinty Fia that really took my appreciation for the band to the next level. From Dogrel to Romance, there is such a shift in sound that it is almost hard to believe that you are listening to the same band at times – especially given the fact that there was only five years between the releases of the two records. Each record feels as though it is a conscious, yet natural, attempt to reinvent their sound, and there is nothing that I appreciate more than a band who has a varied discography.
That leads us to the release of Dopamine Chamber. Having listened to the record religiously over the course of the last week, it means I can discuss the album in its entirety as opposed to only discussing the singles and build-up to the album as I usually do for these ‘album releases’. It is so difficult to say this because the record has only been out for a week, and obviously there is the asterisk of recency bias, but I do think Dopamine Chamber is my favourite Fontaines D.C. record. I do not say that lightly, as Skinty Fia and Romance are two of my favourite albums that have been released this decade. As much as I love those two records, there is one song from each album that I never find myself going out of my way to listen to (The Couple Across The Way and Horseness Is The Whatness). These are by no means bad songs, they are just not my favourites. With Dopamine Chamber, there isn’t a single song that I have considered skipping when replaying the album over the course of the last week.
Dopamine Chamber opens with ‘Six Shot Morning’. Six Shot Morning was also the first song from Dopamine Chamber that the band included in their live sets before they officially announced the album a couple of months ago – so there was already a lot of hype for this song in the fandom before the album released last Friday. I really do struggle to think of a band with more consistent album openers than Fontaines – ‘Big’, ‘I Don’t Belong’, ‘In ár gCroíthe go deo’, ‘Romance’ and now Six Shot Morning. All are among the best songs on each respected album. There is a lot of irony to opening an album titled Dopamine Chamber with a song as morose and dystopian as Six Shot Morning. It is Fontaines D.C. like you have never heard them before – industrial, electronic and imbued with a sense of impending doom. Dopamine Chamber truly feels as if it has led you into a false sense of security.
‘Marianne’ is the lead single taken from Dopamine Chamber and the second track to feature on the album. For me, it was an obvious choice for to be lead single from Dopamine Chamber. Whilst it introduces longtime fans to the band’s new sound, it remains accessible enough to appeal to those who may not have listened to Fontaines D.C. before. Lyrically, Marianne features themes of escapism, hedonism and the beckoning allure of fleeing reality. Marianne herself acts as a metaphor for social media algorithms in that they are able to temporarily take us away from the real world, but once we try and return and put our phones down, there is always the persistent allure to return. Ultimately, we know that Marianne is no good for us, but the temptation to escape is greater than our resolve to face reality.
There is also a lot of poignancy to Marianne being the lead single from Dopamine Chamber, as without the band’s late manager Trevor Dietz, we most likely would have never heard Marianne. Dietz tragically passed away in June of this year, but during the first demoing sessions of Dopamine Chamber, Dietz was the one who convinced the band to include the song on the album after they were prepared to discard it. Conor Deegan III, bassist for Fontaines D.C., wrote on his Instagram that Dietz told the band “yere absolute lunatics” for wanting to leave the song off the album. Ultimately, Dietz’s passing has had a profound effect upon the band, to which they have dedicated the release of Dopamine Chamber to Dietz over the last few months.
‘Mimesis’ is the third track to feature on Dopamine Chamber. I would not be surprised if, in a year from now, I will be saying that this is my favourite song they have ever done. It is certainly my favourite song from Dopamine Chamber and, believe me, that bar is high. I really do dislike this word, but the best way to describe Mimesis is groovy. The New Order comparisons for Mimesis have come in abundance since the album released last Friday, and perhaps that is one of the reasons that I gravitate towards the song so much. Mimesis is Fontaines D.C. at their very best.
‘Tongue’ was the second single taken from Dopamine Chamber and the sixth track to feature on the album. I have never been one to have my opinion of a single change once the album it is taken from releases, but my thoughts on Tongue have drastically changed over the last week or so. When the single was released at the end of September, I did like the song, but for a single I was expecting something with a bit more firepower. After my first listen to the album last Friday, I even recall messaging my friend about the album and stating that I thought Tongue was the weakest song on the album. Over the last week however, I have had the song on repeat. I still think it is a bit of an interesting choice to be a single as I don’t view it as having the same mainstream appeal as Marianne does, but it is now comfortably one of my favourites from Dopamine Chamber. As is most of the album, it is so different to anything that Fontaines D.C. have put out before and I really don’t think it is a stretch to say that Tongue is an attempt at a hip-hop song. During the instrumental breakdown halfway into the song, there is even a piano section that strongly resembles that of ‘N.Y. State of Mind’ by Nas – which in itself is a sample taken from Joe Chamber’s 1977 ‘Mind Rain’.
‘Where Is Gone’ is the eighth track to feature on Dopamine Chamber and the third single taken from the album. Featuring vocals from Rosalia, it is the first time that Fontaines D.C. have ever had another artist feature on one of their tracks – and to say it was worth the wait would not do Where Is Gone justice. In the space of two tracks, Fontaines go from Tongue – a track that is as close to a rock band’s attempt at a hip-hop song as you will ever get, to Where Is Gone – a song that sounds like it has been taken straight out of a Bond movie. The contrast between these two songs is truly astonishing, yet the band make the transition sound completely natural. The combination of Grian Chatten’s and Rosalia’s vocals works intoxicatingly well, and, unlike Tongue, this feels like another obvious choice to be released as a single from Dopamine Chamber. And to think I have seen some people on Twitter have to cheek to call this song ‘boring’.
The penultimate song on Dopamine Chamber is titled ‘Japan’. Japan is one of three songs, alongside Marianne and Where Is Gone, that I can see blowing up the way that ‘Starburster’ and ‘Favourite’ did on Romance. I think the band definitely had an idea that Japan would turn out to be a fan’s favourite, and that is likely why the band released a music video for Japan featuring none other than Charlie Heaton from Stranger Things (which I am still yet to watch). Japan is perhaps the least lyrically ambiguous track on Dopamine Chamber and merely describes a woman in an unhealthy relationship with an emotionally unavailable boyfriend. Japan being easy to decipher lyrically is not a discredit to the song by the way – it is still comfortably one of the best songs on the album. I can just picture this song being plastered over TikTok edits of TV shows from the 2010s over the next couple of years – and maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.
Ultimately, if you entered the Dopamine Chamber expecting a feel-good, pop-centric and turn off your brain sort of album, you would be mistaken. Dopamine Chamber is the work of a band at the peak of their powers, and long may the acclaim for Dopamine Chamber continue over the coming months. It has been a Strokes summer, and I can very much see it being a Fontaines winter.
Leave a Reply